Hereafter Death
by Mable
Summary: While staying in an old building, Six and Eight end up getting confronted by paranormal beings when searching for a missing Nine and Five. They soon have to put their differences aside as the things that Six have been seeing begin to manifest themselves as something less than friendly.


**Mable: Welcome to my Halloween fic! Get ready for a long, bumpy ride here, I just passed 6,000 words, and I am hoping that everyone enjoys it as a Halloween treat. I didn't make it nearly as creepy as some of the other stuff I have written, naturally, but I tried my best. I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**Hereafter Death**_

He didn't like the sight of the building when they were standing outside staring at it. It visually appeared beautiful, still intact with worn, blue shutters. However, Six didn't feel right about it, especially as they entered inside. A storm was brewing in the clouds and they had no choice but to stay here for the night. The others didn't seem to mind and a few were even curious about seeing the inside of what looked to be a mansion.

Dust was thick inside. It covered the floors and furniture in a thick layer and triggered the twins to pull their hoods up over their mouths. "Look at this." One snapped in annoyance, "All of this filth. We might as well stay outside and face the storm." Nobody else agreed and Seven exhaled in an attempt to be calm, "We can't go out into that. The Sanctuary is too far away and we won't make it before the storm rolls in."

The others seemed to agree and Two looked at the surroundings, "I think it is quite nice. Imagine, a building this large survived the war, and this far out of the city as well." He smiled, pleased, and turned to Five, "Not many humans were able to live in homes like this. They were quite expensive and hard to maintain." The Healer listened with interest. Nine did as well, being as interested in humans as he was, and that's when Two made a suggestion.

"Let's check some of the rooms down here for candles. We'll most likely head onto the second floor to find the bedrooms where we will stay for the night." Normally, it would be sunset about now, but the overcast sky blocked it out. Nobody objected to going to bed early to sleep through the storm. Seven and the twins patrolled the hall, Nine headed into a nearby room and Five followed loyally, Two entered an open archway, was followed by One, and left Eight and Six alone.

Six didn't move because he was feeling very strange. Eight didn't move because any time that he could use to taunt Six was considered valuable. Though he was honestly a bit curious when he noticed Six's behavior, "What's wrong with you?" The Artist was breathing deeply, clutching his key, and slowly looked up to the Guard. He looked afraid and Eight assumed that he was afraid of him. "I… I-I…" Six stuttered out and Eight lost patience.

"Yeah, I don't really care if it's going to take you an hour to answer." Eight retorted and crossed to the front door that had been opened to come in and pushed it shut. Six still refused to move as he had the horrific feeling that something was terribly wrong. Meanwhile, Three and Four had found their way into a small sitting room that had walls of shelves topped with books. Their eyes literally lit up as they went to investigate. "Be careful!" Seven warned as she also looked through the room, for candles.

Nine and Five were actually in a room connected to the small library from going through the door they had. It had fewer books in it, but it did have two couches, a large chair, and a small radio on a table. The window was blocked by a flimsy curtain that was a deep green and also thick with dust. Through the small bit of glass Five could see a few drops of water falling from the sky and remembered the last incident involving rain.

Things were different now. It was as though they were reborn, ready to start over, willing to get along as a somewhat functional family, and that made the entire incident worth it. Nine seemed to notice Five's gaze upon the window and spoke up, "Are you okay?" He knew certain things triggered memories. The Phonograph, certain music, certain words, and especially rain would trigger memories. Five gave his friend a certain smile, "Yeah. Just thinking."

"Be careful with that." Nine answered playfully and managed to get a small chuckle out of the buttoned one before looking towards the door. Nobody was there and nobody seemed to be looking in so he turned to the Healer, "Do you want to- you know?" Five was hesitant to agree. Recently, he and Nine had become a bit more affectionate with each other, in a bizarre way that they had decided to keep hidden. They weren't sure why they wanted to stay hidden with it other than dreading One's reaction.

This affection had started a bit after Nine had lost interest Seven and was still beginning. "I don't know…" Five responded and Nine prodded a bit, "Come on. It'll be fun!" He insisted and Five finally gave in, "Okay, but let's hurry. I don't want One to see." Then, with that, they randomly embraced. It seemed innocent enough from afar, they assumed, but were slowly deciding that it wasn't exactly innocent. Especially when they knew they had to hide it.

Nine managed to fit his arms around the heavy pack Five was carrying and the Healer responded positively. They stayed like this for a bit, just holding each other, until they were suddenly alerted to someone clearing their throat. They both looked over to see none other than Seven who must have heard them talking and came to seek them out. Unlike Nine, Seven actually had not been interested in Nine romantically at any point, and had always seen him as a very close sibling.

Five still let out a short cry of horror when he saw her. He knew, eventually, someone was going to see them and think the worst. It didn't help that Nine was giving this overly guilty looking smile, "Hey Seven." He greeted cautiously, "We- umm- haven't found any candles yet." Seven had a small knowing smile, but decided to save their dignity by looking back towards the twins, "I found some sort of lamp that might work. I'm not sure."

"Let me just look at it!" Five said a bit too fast and he pulled away from Nine and nearly ran away. Seven followed and Nine lagged behind them both, quite embarrassed. Five looked at the found lamp that the twins were examining and immediately recognized it, as they apparently seemed to. "It's a Kerosene lamp." Five explained before lightly shaking the form, "Feels like it has fuel in it too. This will work well." He said with yet another smile.

"Then that will work." Nine pointed out, "But how are we going to move it?" The buttoned male looked it over before explaining. "The glass comes off, so we can move that easily, and then we'll get the others to help carry the base. It shouldn't be too hard."

Meanwhile, Two had managed to find a candle in the dining room. A candelabra stood above the dining room table and had three candles jutting from it. The first, at the top, was new and looked unused while the other two were certainly used. The second was used a bit, but still good enough, and the third was worn to the nub. Two could only assume that during the war they were trying to ration all supplies. Whether food, clothing, or candles.

One followed him onto the table and was staring at the surrounding tableware. He wouldn't admit it, but the initialed silverware and fine china plates were impressive, a sign that the humans who were living in the house were well off as Two had suggested. "Will that be enough?" He asked pryingly as Two tried to free the candle from its confines. "It will help. Besides," He made a soft noise from struggling to free the candle, "We will- ah- probably be in the same room."

Then, with that, the candle came free, and Two fell with it onto the table. It knocked the wind out of him, especially with the candle landing upon him. One approached and took the wax object off of the Inventor before dragging it to the edge of the table, "Eight!" He called and, shortly after, Eight appeared at the doorway and soon was standing under the dining room table, "Boss?" One dropped the candle over the edge to fall onto Eight who managed to catch it.

"Take that to the stairs." One insisted before turning back to Two who was now trying to get the second one free. However, this one had melted into the candle stick, and was even more difficult than before. "Come make yourself useful." Two commented, purposely teasing, and One gaped at this before his optics narrowed, "Excuse me? I will have you know-!"

They were interrupted by a loud smash and shattering noise. Both spun back to see that one of the plates, the one farthest away, was now missing. They crossed over to see that it had fallen off the table. One huffed, "Must have been on the edge. Eight's footsteps must have sent it over." Two chuckled, "Or, that is, your voice." The Leader glared at this as the Inventor returned to the candlestick.

It was a bit later that the Stitchpunks all met up at the stairwell. They managed to take the lamp upstairs, which Two was interested in, carried the candles, and soon had set up in a nearby bedroom. It had a normal sized bed, large for Stitchpunks, but would suffice for a bed for the night. There was some soft conversation and such before the Stitchpunks decided to head to sleep by time it went dark outside. The storm was growing louder during this time.

One and Two were out in the hall talking about something, one of the candles was out there keeping them alit. Eight was actually by the window staring out in an attempt to watch for Beasts, eventually laying back on the bed and starting to drift off. Six was curled between the pillows and burrowing his face into the crease to hide from anything. Five had already fallen asleep and Nine was laying nearby, looking surprisingly alert.

Seven was tucking in the twins who were obviously trying to insist that they weren't tired without words. She stroked their heads under their hoods, "Get some rest and maybe you can read some before we leave tomorrow." She insisted and the two reluctantly nodded in agreement. The Warrior softly hummed to them to calm them down. They slowly started to close their optics, cuddled together, and Seven only quieted when she noticed something.

It was suddenly very cold in the room and Seven noticed it. She looked to the window to see that it was closed, as she expected Eight had opened it. He tucked the twins in a bit more before retiring to bed as well, not bothered by the temperature. About thirty minutes passed, Seven and Eight were now asleep, One and Two came in and moved to the bed to rest, and suddenly Nine was sitting up again, a wide smile on his face as he made sure the others weren't still awake.

"Five." He whispered as he shook Five's side, whispering to the male. The Healer awoke in a short amount of time and turned to Nine in confusion. "Nine? Is something wrong?" He asked and Nine smiled mischievously. "Let's go." Five blinked as Nine started to stand, "What? Go where?" Nine pointed towards the door, "To explore." Five followed the other, tiredly, but didn't voice his hesitance until they were out of hearing range of the others.

"Nine, I don't know about this." Five spoke softly and Nine seemed insistent, "Come on, it'll be fun. We'll just check through the mansion and be back before the others know it." He insisted and the Healer begrudgingly decided to go along with it. "Just a few rooms, please?" He asked and Nine nodded in reassurance and the two set off into the house alone.

However, they didn't realize that someone had heard them, and was presently awaking. Six immediately looked at the others and was able to catch that both Nine and Five were missing. Paranoia overtook as his eyes scanned the shadowed corners of the rooms. This place wasn't right and Six knew it. As such, he immediately got up, and practically ran to the edge of the bed, past Eight, past One and Two, who were strangely holding each other, and climbed down to the floor.

He had to find Nine and Five quickly to bring them back, they couldn't be out in this, and he knew there was nothing but danger lurking about. He scurried across the floor to the doorway and peered into the darkness. He shivered a bit and looked to the nearby candle that barely gave off any light. It was flickering and he couldn't understand why, as the hall air was still. Six started to feel an overwhelming feeling of dread as he stared at it, something in the back of his mind sounded like something, like a voice was speaking.

He couldn't understand the words in the slightest and they abruptly stopped when something fell upon his shoulder. He cried out and smacked it away, sharp fingers grating on fabric. "What're you doing?!" Six gaped at the voice and at the Stitchpunk before him. "Eight…" He choked out as Eight rubbed his arm, "Yeah. Now, what're you doing out here?" He didn't sound very pleased and the Artist looked at the floor, "I was… I just…"

"Spit it out, Freak. I don't have all night." Eight responded shortly and Six looked back up, "Nine and Five…" Eight rose a brow, looked down the dark hall, and then his optics suddenly widened. He disappeared into the bedroom and returned rather quick, "Where are they?" He asked, going for the candle and grabbing the small box of matches at the base of said candle. Before Six could speak, there was the sound of creaking from down the hall where the stairs were.

The noise didn't sound right to Six who had a bad feeling as Eight started in the direction. "Eight?" The Guard turned back, looking annoyed, "If anyone wakes up, I'm just going to get them. I'll be back in a back. He lit one of the matches and started into the dark. They weren't normal matches as they were treated by Two, made so that they could last longer than normal, and so they would last long enough to find Nine and Five.

Six didn't feel right letting Eight go alone. Sure, he wanted to hide alone in bed, but he did care for Eight. Even though the other frequently bullied him for fun. He soon started to follow behind, quietly, and keeping a distance. Eight headed to the top of the stairs where he held the match up to cast a dim light across the foyer. He was unafraid of anything lingering in the dark and merely stared around for the other two Stitchpunks.

Then, suddenly, he spoke. "Go back to bed, Six." The Artist clutched his key and he spoke up for himself, "I… I want to come with you." The Guard was about to retort, but soon shrugged, "Fine. Just stay close. Not too close." Then he started to head down the stairs one by one, Six hurrying to stay in the casted light. Halfway down the steps he heard a rumbling noise and shuttered a bit, "What was that?"

Eight looked at the ceiling, "Probably the storm kicking up. A Beast would've howled or something." Six wasn't too sure as he swore that the rumbling sounded like it had come from below. It also felt like Six was being stared at and he scanned the foyer before his optics stopped on the entrance to the dining room. His mismatched optics stared into the dark depths as his hands gripped onto the bars that trailed down the stairs and held up the banister.

The Guard looked around before gesturing into the room connected with the library. "They were in here earlier." He explained and entered inside, nearly leaving Six in the dark. For a second he swore he saw something moving in the dining room. Out of horror, he ran after Eight, into the nearby room. There was nobody inside, but Eight was careful to check under the couches, before the room suddenly went dark.

A hushed burst of whispers entered Six's audio receptors and he let out a short cry of fear before nearly leaping onto Eight who was crouched still. The Guard was certainly confused and lit another match, "What's wrong with you now?" He asked and Six looked at the match, "Why did it go out?" The Guard looked exasperated, "It ran down and- What's that?" He suddenly perked and Six listened.

A soft thump, then another, and another, continuing onwards as Eight stood again and stared into the small library. "It's coming from over there." He pointed out and began to head in the direction. Six trailed softly behind, terrified. The thumping stopped the second that Eight got the match to light part of the library. There was nothing there, save a few books lying on the ground, a few books that Six suspected weren't left by the twins. Eight head towards the hall again and Six spoke up.

"Maybe we… We should get the others… We can all look." He insisted and Eight raised a brow before smirking, "Scared?" He asked and Six looked to him desperately. That was when Six suddenly had a weird epiphany. Eight, standing there, holding a match, and then disappearing from sight. It was like a second of déjà vu that Six couldn't very well understand. Suddenly he was brought to reality by the box of matches striking him in the chest, "Carry those." Eight somewhat commanded and entered the hall.

Six followed behind him once again and watched the dark shadows climb the walls. He hoped Eight would go to the right, disappearing down the hall, but this was soon proven wrong. Instead, he headed towards the dining room, and Six spoke up, "Maybe we should-."

"I'm not going upstairs, Six." Six was going to suggest going the other way, but didn't feel like he could offer again once he realized Eight's slip. Eight had actually called him 'Six' instead of 'Freak'. Even though it was most likely an accident, it still made Six feel good, so he loyally followed the Guard along. They entered the dining room where Eight immediately froze up. "Must be a broken window; It's freezing in here." He explained as he noticed his break causing small puffs of smoke, "Look at this."

Six looked and was surprised, "I… I don't understand. It wasn't that cold outside." Eight shrugged a little, "Maybe the rain caused it." He then noticed the match was dying and turned to Six. "I need another match." Six reached into the box and retrieved a match, lighting it on his foot like he saw Two do before. He then handed it to Eight only to freeze. Behind Eight he saw something that took him aback. On the other side of the table he could see legs, human legs.

The feet were without shoes and a white gown, like nightclothes, stopped right before the ankles and frilled at the bottom. It was only a second before it disappeared and Eight took this as a sign that Six had, mistakenly, thought he saw something when he saw the others. He led Six silently after taking the match and they crossed under the table to the other doorway that led into an old kitchen.

This was when Six heard the voice again, or voices, speaking at the back of his mind. He couldn't determine what they were saying except they didn't sound pleased. At one point, he did hear something that he clearly identified as being in another language, and cursed that he could only speak one. That wasn't the only weird thing in the room, though. There was a strange grinding noise that they looked over towards.

Turned out that there was a knife hanging on the wall with other utensils, at least Six hoped it was supposed to be there, and was rubbing on a box beneath it. Back and forth it swung before slowly coming to a stop. It begged the question of what had been making it move, but that wasn't the only thing Six noticed. He was beginning to notice a gaping hole at the back of the room, a small open door, which was presently opening at a steady pace.

Six stared in alarm at the sight and recoiled a bit, "Eight…" He said softly in warning and the Guard looked over. He made his own assumption, "That's pretty funny, but I'm still taking you two back. Come on, get out of there." He insisted, beckoning with a motion of the match, but receiving no answer. "I don't have all night." There was no answer and Eight started to approach. Six had a horrific feeling of dread and stopped him, "Wait…"

Eight looked back with scrutiny and Six paused, "I… I think it was a draft… I don't think they went down there." Then decided to lie. "I think I heard something upstairs above us. It was either them or the others." It was to protect Eight; he didn't want the guard near that door, but he wasn't sure why. Eight seemed to buy it well enough and turned away from the door, "Are you sure?"

Six nodded in an attempt to keep from lying anymore and Eight huffed in annoyance, "They're avoiding us. Alright, let's go. If we hurry we'll be able to corner them up there." Eight did hurry as well. He nearly ran to the stairs, determination across his face, and they climbed the stairs. Another match was lit and only about seven remained afterwards. The room above the kitchen was a nursery that was empty and dust covered.

A small bed rested in the corner and across from it was a crib. The floor was covered with numerous kinds of toys and Eight immediately started searching through them to find whoever was hiding. He was interrupted by the sound of tinkling and looked to the right to see a small toy that looked like an animal on wheels moving past. It had a bell on it, which made the noise, and Eight looked back towards Six only to see the male was too far away to have moved it, climbing onto the crib.

He turned back to the horse only to notice it had moved yet again. It had readjusted, now completely facing him, and it disturbed Eight incredibly. It didn't stop as he looked around, though, noticing the other toys around him were faced towards him. A few little, metal soldiers were aligned together pointing towards Eight, a stuffed animal as well, and the Guard swore he saw the animal twitch. "How'd I not notice this when I walked up?" He muttered to himself as he slowly stepped out of their line of vision.

This wasn't the only bizarre event that occurred, though. Eight wandered to the back of the nursery and began to experience even more of these bizarre events. This time, though, things were beginning to bluntly move before him. It started with another toy on wheels that looked like a car. Eight watched it slowly inch across the floor before it abruptly stopped. The Guard slowly reached back towards his knife and pulled it free, only to flinch at the sound of soft giggling from nearby. It sounded like a young female.

Six lit up another match for himself and peered into the crib. It looked soft on the inside and for a second Six felt a tug of exhaustion. He wanted to cuddle up in bottom of the small bed and fall asleep, disappearing from the world. The second he started to move through the cribs he noticed something dark in the bottom of the crib. Putting the match in closer, he could see a puddle of red liquid beginning to form in the bottom. He knew what blood was, and recoiled as such.

"Eight," He forced himself to stay calm as he continued, "I think we should leave." Eight was beginning to get uneasy as well, but refused to accept this as anything more than an awkward event. They quickly, and silently, left the room and entered the next. This one was another bedroom with a smaller bed and a dresser. However, Six was immediately taken by something it the corner, "What's that?"

It looked to him like a sphere object. Eight looked in the direction and raised a stitched brow, "What are you talking about?" Six pointed with a single, sharp finger and wide optics, "There! It's a… A ball of light!" Eight looked over, looked confused, and looked back, "Six, there's nothing there." The Artist couldn't believe it and blinked a few times. It was still there and he was insistent, "Eight, it's right there, I'm looking right at it."

To show that this wasn't the case, Eight started over, and Six rushed up and grabbed his wrist, "Wait, don't, stop!" He insisted, "There's something there, I know it, please don't." The Guard pulled away and was becoming less interested in the event. The events from earlier were going ignored merely to spite Six, "Look, I don't know what you see through those weirdly shaped optics, but there is nothing there." He gestured over, "Look, nothing. You can't say there's something there. Not even in your state."

Six winced at the comment and watched as Eight wandered over towards the light. He stood right in the center of it and looked back, "Am I on it?" With that, the sphere vanished, and Six had a feeling that this only meant something bad. That is, until Eight spoke, "Nothing here. Now can we-?"

Nothing except an 'oomph' noise as Eight vanished. Six choked and ran forwards, alighting with his match where the Guard had fallen through the floor. The portion of the floor looked rotten and the Artist realized that the Guard's weight caused it to cave. Almost as though the light was to lure them over. A feeling of dread passed as he realized that Eight had straight through to whatever was connected to the door in the kitchen. It was not accident, he believed, the things he saw used him to their advantage.

He dropped the currently held match into the hole after the Guard before lighting another. He didn't go for the others and headed straight for the stairs.

Eight landed heavily upon something hard and cloth covered. Promptly after a dead match fell on him, soon followed by a lit one that he assumed Six dropped down. He managed to drag himself up quick. "Damn…" He groaned as he looked up. He couldn't see the hole he fell through as the light was too dim to do so. Instead, he looked around, and suddenly noticed what he was standing on.

He fell back off of the human remains with a short yell of horror. It wasn't just one either, there were at least seven bodies, all lying across the floor, looking shriveled. Eight was disgusted and attempted to avert his optics before shivering, "Just my luck." He muttered, "I'm going to kill Six if I see him ever again." He could see a doorway and noticed it lead into the kitchen. "Least I know where I am, but why…" He merely thought the last part, "_Why're all these bodies in here?"_

Instead, Eight noticed a noise in the back of the room, and spun back, "Hello?" It sounded like a creaking noise, or a whining noise. Suddenly he wondered if Six had fallen with him. "Six?" As he crossed around the bodies towards the back of the room. The creaking noise shifted and was definitely whimpering now. Soft sobs, whimpers, and Eight became more concerned, "Six? Are you hurt?" He knew he would've been fine falling like that, but Six was more fragile, Six could be hurt.

The soft sobs grew louder as Eight approached the back of the room. He raised his match to shine the light across the frame of another deceased human. This time there was something wrong, it looked like the body was moving. He thought it was the light from the match flickering at first. This soon proved to be wrong, especially when its head twisted around. He noticed the human body was bare but could make little of it gender, simply knowing that it was a purplish color, unnatural.

Then it looked to him, showing its face. The eyes were virtually missing and the sockets were sunken in. The mouth was the same way, oozing a reddish liquid that Eight knew was blood, dripping from its chapped lips. Eight had seen little of living humans, but he knew that this was not right. It then began to make a disturbing noise that sound like a human moaning mixed with the grinding and rattling of machinery.

Eight didn't know why, but he felt nothing but fear, and knew this thing was something to avoid. He turned back to the door and began to dash towards it, seeing a dull light outside like a candle or something approaching, and then the door abruptly slammed. Eight went to grab his knife again only to be suddenly thrown forward against the ground. Something was on him, but in the dull light he saw nothing, as the thing in the corner was still residing in the corner apparently.

The match hit the ground as Eight was flung. It was incredible that something, even invisible, had enough strength to lift him off the ground and send him against the wall. It was a painful hit and followed by something grabbing onto his shoulder guard and knife, using the grip to throw him back to the floor. He couldn't see anything and the match soon died completely. His limbs began to feel twisted as he was forced against the ground.

Six knew, from the noises, that something was going on. He could hear Eight making noises of pain and could hear the banging about. He smashed his sharp fists upon the door, "Stop! _Stop!" _He begged helplessly as he listened to Eight getting killed. Whatever this thing was in the house, it was uncaring, it was murderous, and it triggered the Artist to become furious. He began to bang against the door harder and harder, "Stop it, stop it, _stop it! Let him go!_"

He yelled before something snapped. It was as though his mind twisted, something inside twitched and flexed, and suddenly the door gave, though it was like pushing against a heavy weight. There was a thud from inside as Eight was abruptly dropped. Perhaps Six's breaking through triggered his attacker to pull back, maybe breaking conversation, but Six soon was dashing in with a lit match. "Eight?!" He called pitifully as he ran up to Eight's side.

The Guard had the wind knocked out of him and was lying on his back. Slowly he started to sit up and looked to the Artist. "Are you okay?" Six asked and this was answered by Eight suddenly forcing himself up. "We've got to get out of here. Now." He commanded and glanced around. To his alarm, the room had changed. Instead of a large room of bodies, it had morphed into a small pantry. Not a single corpse in sight.

Six didn't argue and the two dashed out. The door tried to close on them and there was some odd knocking on the walls, but nothing dangerous. By time Eight and Six arrived to the candle in the hall, all activity had stopped, and Eight spoke, "Alright." He broke down, "What's going on here?" He looked to Six and the Artist was surprised that the Guard trusted his opinion. "I… I think they…" Six briefly thought before finishing, "I think they were human souls."

"Like, dead humans?" Eight asked, "Why'd they want to kill us? They've been screwing with us all night. It doesn't make sense." Six spoke up, "Actually, it does make sense…. It only took a little part of a human Soul to make us. Imagine what a group of human souls, no longer held down by bodies, could end up doing to us." They both went solemn and silent. "Why aren't they attacking now?" Eight asked and Six shrugged, "I don't know… Maybe they… Maybe they are waiting to attack again…"

Eight soon came up with his own idea, "Wait… It went after us when we were around that room, but once we got this far away it's barely noticeable. Maybe it's there and was trying to get us to go there, or something like that, you know?" He looked to the striped one, "Six?" The Artist shrugged softly, but didn't answer. It was obvious that he was still traumatized by the entire event and Eight exhaled. "Let's get back to the others and get some sleep or something. It's not around here and my back is killing me."

Six actually gasped when Eight rested a hand on his back to lead him into the room with the others. A small gesture, but it certainly made Six feel nice, and even a bit warm in the face. They climbed back onto the bed before Eight suddenly looked like he would explode. Six soon noticed that he was glaring at two Stitchpunks nearby, asleep together. He stormed to Five and Nine's frame and shook the latter awake, "Hey." He whispered harshly, "Where were you?"

Nine slowly awoke, looking groggy, "What?" Eight pointed towards the door, "I've been looking for you. Where were you?" He was obviously furious and Nine explained, "Five and I went up into the attic. Why?" Eight wanted to yell, but didn't want to awake any of the others, "Never mind. Go back to sleep." With this, Nine wrapped an arm around Five and buried his head into his buttoned front. The Guard merely wandered over to where he had been sleeping before.

Six started towards the pillows when Eight spoke, "Six." Six looked over, "Yes?" The Guard suddenly looked a bit softer in his features and actually managed a small smile, "I don't know what you did down there, but thanks." Six clutched his key and smiled shyly, "It wasn't anything. I broke its concentration; that was all." He waited for another comment and the two remained their awkwardly. That's when Eight spoke, "Maybe you should stay over here; let me keep my eye on you."

The offer surprised Six, but he cautiously approached, and soon settled beside Eight's side. Eight wrapped an arm around the smaller male and held him close. For a second, they both realized how scared they were to be alone, and knew staying up together was the only option.

Somewhere along the line, the plan went array. Eight had planned to stay awake, but now was waking up with the bright glare of the sun piercing through the window into his optics. Six was still tight in his grasp, the small Artist curled into a small ball, and Eight rested his head upon his. It was a bit strange how a single incident made his hate for the Artist change to some sort of confusing friendship sort of thing.

That was when he heard Two from behind, "If we can't make it out through this window of sunlight then we may have to stay another night." This was directed at One who was attempting to sleep longer. Eight decided that he wasn't sleeping for another second and shook Six vigorously until the Artist awoke. Six had been tucked again Eight's front, as though attempting to hide. When he awoke, he was groggy and confused so Eight explained, "It's morning, it's sunny, and we need to get the hell out of here." Six shot up after that with the same look of determination and fear as Eight.

It was then that they headed straight downstairs in a haze with the others. Nobody else, not even Nine and Five, had noticed a thing. Thankfully, there was relief as they stepped outside the mansion and into the damp world outside. Six felt something heavy that came with him into the library come off of him at that moment and was pleased. That is, until Two spoke, "It certainly is a lovely house. Perhaps we should return?"

Six watched as the others, save Eight, all agreed. Then Nine glanced to Five, "Think you can draw it up on one of the maps before we forget the way?" Five agreed to as he usually did with Nine's ideas and mentioned that he'd do it when he got home. With this, Eight leaned over Six's shoulder, "You get the map and I'll get rid of it. Deal?" Six smiled a little, "Deal."

With their departure the mansion went quiet once again.

_**END**_

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**Mable: If it looks like I started sprinting through the end, that's because I did. I had two days to write this and it was slowly getting longer and longer. Either way, here it is! I hoped everyone enjoyed!**


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